Happy Birthday, Roger
by xRJLupinx
Summary: It's Roger's birthday, which can only mean two things: many guitarrelated gifts, and some crazy friends having fun in the loft.


**Author's Note:** Yay, my first Rent fic! Sort of. It's actually based on a roleplay I did during the summer, so I've still got characters all over. Also, we didn't have a Benny or a Joanne, so I was too lazy and whatnot to put them back in (plus, those characters aren't really my strong suit). Anyway, I don't particularly like this fic all that much, because I think it gets kind of boring an undescriptive, and I could use more character feeling, and some parts are just so ridiculously random (like the Mark and Maureen thing). But I was just playing around with characters and stuff. Just to get me in the mood to try and write more Rent stories, since I was trying to do it for months and still didn't really get around to it. But I have ideas now. So I will try and write more. I'm more of a Rent roleplayer person than a Rent story writer person. Which slightly doesn't make any sense.  
So... I don't own Rent, because Jonathan Larson does. And this story is dedicated to moviebuffstarlet, because she rocks, and she made me want to go write some Rent fics. :D

* * *

The sounds of a guitar being strummed echoed throughout the room, and Roger Davis listened to them calmly, though having no idea what they were. It wasn't even an actual song, or anything he'd been writing, but as he sat lazily on his well-worn chair, he let his fingers trip over the strings on his beloved instrument. Today was his twenty sixth birthday. Yet another year to age, another year in the life. He knew that everyone was doing something for his birthday, being that Mark was out of the loft, and Roger knew that Mark was probably rushing off to get a birthday present for him at the last minute. He'd also tried calling Mimi earlier, but Mimi hadn't answered her phone, and when he'd gone downstairs to knock on the loft, he'd gotten no reply. It was empty.

---

Mimi happened to be over at Angel's, getting ready with her best friend for Roger's party later. A tight white shirt clung to her body, and below that hung a short black skirt. To complete the outfit, she'd thrown on some fishnet tights and some black boots. The girl knew she was ready to go, and she gave a sigh and fiddled with her long, curly hair. Leaning against a wall in the loft, she looked over at her friend. "Angel, are you ready yet? We're supposed to be meeting everyone at the loft soon."

Angel was staring at herself in the mirror, a frown on her face. Today she was wearing a form fitting blue sweater and a tan ruffly skirt. "Hmm... I don't know about these shoes," she mumbled, staring at the usual black high heels. "There are these blue ones I got the other day that would match very nicely, but I'm afraid I'll fall on them... sorry, Mimi, what'd you say?" she asked, noting that'd she'd completely missed what Mimi was saying. "Sorry, honey, you know how I get when I'm dressing."

Mimi rolled her eyes, but then grinned at her friend. "I know. Very slow." She glanced out the window, and then returned to watch the drag queen. "What did you get Roger?"

"Mnnn," Angel nodded, observing herself again. Still undecided, she kicked off the shoes as Mimi asked her question. "Ah, that reminds me, I have to go get it out." She walked over into her and Collins's bedroom, reached under the bed, and pulled out a bright red bag with some sparkly tissue paper covering up the gift. Then she went back to the other room. "Roger is so hard to buy for. I don't even know what that boy likes, besides guitars and Mimi Marquez." She gave a grin at her friend. "So I got him one of those music notebooks so that he can write down the lyrics and music to a song, that is, if he ever writes one. And I got him a new shirt, because I swear that every time I see him he's wearing that green shirt of his." She stared at the shoes again. "Hmm. I think I'm going to go with the blue ones." Angel slipped them on, increasing her height by about four inches, and picked up the red bag on the table. "Well, Meems, I'm finally ready to go. You can tell me what you got Roger on the way there."

Mimi blushed at Angel's comment about what Roger liked. "Angel, you are one brassy woman," she joked, and then shook her head. "And how did I know you were going to get him clothes?" Picking up the bag that had Roger's gift in it, she opened the door and walked out with Angel. "I got Roger a new strap for her guitar. I had it hand sewn to say his name and notes in the background. Hopefully he likes it."

"Aww, Mimi, that sounds really cute!" Angel replied. "That's really thoughtful. I'm sure he'll love it. And if he doesn't, well..." she trailed off laughing, and together the girls walked out of the apartment and headed for Roger's.

---

Three loud knocks rang out on Roger's loft door, and he set his guitar against his comfy chair, then stood up and walked to go greet the first guest. Or Mark. Whoever it might be.

When he opened the door, it revealed none other than Maureen Johnson, who grinned at him wildly and struck a pose. "I'm here!" she announced dramatically. Seeing the monotone expression on Roger's face, she frowned. "Where's your happiness? It's your birthday!" She smiled at him. "You got up without grunting, and you're not all hunched over, so you're still young."

"For a while, anyway," Roger said. "I'm just tired, Maureen. Come on in."

She walked in further, helping herself to a seat on the couch. Looking around, she noticed the loft was missing a certain room mate, and she asked, "Where's Mark?"

---

The wind was pushing at his back, as if it was saying, "Run, Mark Cohen, run!" He knew that he probably should have gotten Roger's gift earlier, but he supposed that he had gotten too involved with his film. Originally he'd planned to give Roger a sort of documentary over things that he'd done lately (Mark had taken to either hiding his camera in the house somewhere or sneakily filming him) but as he'd watched it over last night, he decided that it was a pretty lame idea. What had he been thinking? A video? No. So in the end Mark had gone running over to the music store and bought Roger a bunch of guitar picks and some strings. And he planned on paying for dinner for him later. Hopefully that would be good.

Mark rushed into the apartment with the bag stuffed into his coat pocket ran up the stairs, and finally landed on the familiar floor of his loft. Pulling out his loft key, he inserted it into the lock and opened the door.

"Hey Roger, I'm back. Happy birthday. Another year older, huh?"

There was another person in the loft. Maureen. Mark felt his face warm slightly. "Oh, uh, hey Maureen."

Maureen smiled brightly at her ex as he scurried in the room. "Hey Marky!"

"So, where have you been?" Roger asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, I was just out," Mark answered Roger, hand digging into his coat pocket as he lied. "I just wanted to see what restaurants were open, to be sure that none of them had been privately reserved for some event or something."

"Uh huh," Roger said, smirking. "Yeah, well, thanks for reminding me that I'm another year older."

"Getting older isn't that bad," Mark said, trying to persuade Roger. "I mean, look at this. You're a better guitar player now than you were two years ago. So you're probably going to get even better this year. Maybe you'll write that song."

Roger laughed. "Yeah, and maybe this year you'll get a better girlfriend." He glanced over at Maureen. "No offense, Maureen."

"Shut up, Roger," Mark scowled, taking off his signature scarf and his coat, folding the coat slightly and tossing it on the table, his scarf on top.

Maureen shrugged and laughed as well. "None taken," she said. "I like to think of me as being one in a million. Some just can't handle me." She giggled and flipped her hair, waiting for everyone else.

Mark looked toward Maureen, noting that her other half was absent. "Where's Joanne, Maureen?"

"Oh. She's out of town on some lawyer business meeting thingy," Maureen answered, sticking out a tongue and making a gagging noise. "I told her to get out of it, but she said that she couldn't afford to miss it. So I'm supposed to give you happy birthday greetings from her," she added to Roger. "And she said she'll try and call, but she's not sure how much time she'll have."

Roger smiled and then looked at Mark. "Hear that, Mark? Looks like you're both single for the night. Something might happen." He cocked his head at Mark's face. "Aww, come on, I was just kidding." And honestly, he was. He could never get over just making fun of Mark. And Maureen never seemed to mind. It distracted him from thinking about his birthday anyway.

"I know," Mark said defensively, though thinking about how nice it was that Maureen was not hanging on and kissing Joanne for once. It would be just them. And Roger, of course.

"So I think we're just waiting on Mimi, Angel, and Collins, then," Mark said. "I didn't see Mimi climbing up to the window on my way up, so maybe she's with Angel."

---

As Angel and Mimi drew closer to the building, something suddenly came across Mimi's thoughts. "Was someone supposed to get a cake?"

Angel's face fell. "Oh. Uh. I don't know. No one mentioned anything, and I guess no one mentioned anything to you either. But I doubt Mark will have thought of it. Should we go pick one out before we get there?"

"I think Mark said something about dinner, I'm sure it's fine." Mimi said, picking up her pace. All right. So the truth was, she was just really excited to see Roger.

"I guess so then," Angel said, smirking as she noticed the Latina walk faster. "I'm actually very surprised by these shoes," she remarked. "I thought they were going to hurt like hell, but they're actually fairly comfortable."

Outside of the apartment was Collins, with a brightly wrapped gift and grocery bag all crammed into one hand, and in the other hand were Mark's keys that he'd just received out the window. He had gotten Roger a guitar book, so he could learn to play some new songs.

"Really? I thought that they'd hurt you too." Mimi said, looking ahead and spotting a familiar figure entering the building. She grinned and looked at her friend. "Angel, it's Collins." Mimi began running further again again, fast as possible to the steps outside the apartment.

Angel's face immediately brightened. Now she knew exactly why she wanted to start running, but Mimi began running for a reason that Angel knew was up playing guitar in the loft. She too took off running, as fast as he blue high heels would allow (and now she had to admit they were actually starting to hurt), but it didn't matter. She could just imagine how funny she and her best friend looked, sprinting like idiots just to get to the loft and see their lovers.

After climbing all the steps, Collins arrived at the loft and slid open the door. "Happy birthday, bum!" he cried good naturedly, walking in with a grin and setting some things on the table. "I got ya a cake. And..." He pulled a bottle of champagne out of the bag along with a stack of cups.

"Now why doesn't this surprise me?" Mark asked, his eyes studying the items Collins placed on the table.

Roger snorted at the bum comment. It had to be somewhat true anyway, since Mimi had seemed to take pleasure in reminding him how lazy he could be. "Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Collins. Welcome back to your home."

Collins looked around the loft with a pleasant smile, sighing in remembrance. "I know... I miss it. We had some good times. But I'm having some pretty good times in my new loft too, ya know," he said with a wink.

Suddenly, Collins twitched as Maureen snuck behind him and poked him in the back before hugging him. "Ow, girl! What you doing? Starting some secret conspiracy against me?" Still, he chuckled and patted her on the head as he turned around and gave her one of his huge hugs.

"I might be," Maureen answered in a dramatic whisper. "You just never know."

The door of the loft creaked open loudly again, and the sound of heels pounding rapidly against the floor announced the entrance of Mimi and Angel, both slightly out of breath from sprinting up the stares in those shoes, but smiling happily nevertheless.

Angel darted over to Collins, causing Maureen to make an awkward jump to the side to avoid being run over or something. Angel slipped her arms around Collins's neck and gave him a kiss.

Collins grinned. "Nothing says hello better than that," he said as they broke apart.

Angel stared back at him lovingly, and then suddenly remembered the real reason she was there. "Happy birthday Roger!" she announced, setting her bag down by Collins's groceries

Meanwhile, Mimi had moved toward Roger and also given him a kiss hello. "Feeling ancient?" she asked smiling.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe if I kept aging five years every time someone said that to me..." Roger said, a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

"I'm so glad that's not happening, because you still look good to me," Mimi said, smiling and kissing him again.

"Cool. Everyone's here, then. Should we start the festivities now?" Mark asked, clearing his throat a little as he glanced around at the two couples and Maureen.

"Just wait a minute, Mark," said Angel, still wrapped in Collins's arms. "Mimi just got here. I think she wants to have her _own_ festivity with Roger right now, if you know what I mean." She winked and giggled, then kissed Collins again, who had begun sniggering at her words.

"Oh my God, Angel, I love you!" Maureen exclaimed, giggling wildly.

Mimi's head snapped over to Angel with a look of shock on her face and mock scolding. "Angel!" she whispered "We can do that after everyone is gone or passed out." She grinned and looked back at Roger. "Sorry, babe. I'll make it up." Her hands reached for some of his bangs and pushed them out of his face as Roger stared back at her, pretending to look very upset.

"That shouldn't be too much of a problem. Let's get this party started," Collins said, pushing an extra chair toward the table and gathering around it. Everyone followed suit, and Collins opened the champagne bottle, the cork flying after a loud pop. After everyone was poured a cup, Collins raised his own in the air and said, "Here's to Roger. Another birthday, and many more to come." He looked sincerely at his friend, quickly praying that his words would be true. Roger didn't return the gaze. He was looking down at the floor before glancing back at the plastic cup clinking circle formed. The six banged their plastic cups together and drank deeply.

When he finished sipping, Roger looked back around and found everyone's eyes were laying on him, as though waiting for him to say something. Or do something important. He didn't know what. Unless maybe they were all thinking about how this could be one of his last birthdays. Yeah. Sure. There was a great birthday present. His lips smacked together out of lack of something to do, and he stared back at them, thinking of something for conversation.

"So...uh, Angel. What happened to that long blonde wig of yours?"

"Oh, it's in your birthday present," Angel answered, attempting to keep a straight face and then completely laughing. "Just kidding. I couldn't possibly part with that wig. But that's my Pussy Galore wig, not my 'Roger's Birthday Party' wig. So I can't wear it now. Another time, though. I'm going to see what effect the curling iron might have on it."

Roger raised his eyebrow some. Angel was always up to something. "Um... but then wouldn't it burn?" As if he'd know about this subject. "Well... if I ever get desperate that might make an interesting song."

Collins laughed. "Yeah. Get back to writing. By the way, what do you wanna do now, guys? Cake or presents."

"Ooh! I vote presents!" said Angel immediately. "Roger needs to see his new shir- things! Yes! Things. So I say presents." She looked back at Roger excitedly. "Really? A song?" she said, perking up. She then began banging a beat onto the wooden table and making up a song on the spot. "Oh, today Angel tried to curl her wig, and then she leaaaaarned, that it wasn't so good looking when it buuuuuurned..." She giggled and leaned back into Collins.

The group laughed and Collins looked around again. "Come on, guys. We got one vote for presents. Anyone else feel like contributing before I toss this whole voting thing aside?"

"Presents sounds good, though it's Roger's birthday so he should be the one deciding what he wants to do," Mark put it. "I still vote for presents. The aftertaste of champagne doesn't exactly mesh with cake."

Roger shrugged. "I don't care. Surprise me."

Maureen seeing Mark's sad look, placing her arm around his shoulder. "Cheer up Marky." She turned her head and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

Mark's eyes glazed over without him even realizing. Maureen had just kissed /him/. She hadn't done that since... well, that time at the Life Cafe where she hadn't even meant it. Well, she did, she had been very excited about her footage being on the show thanks to him, but she hadn't meant it in the way that she used to. Before Joanne.

Maureen turned back to Mark and had to giggle at Mark's new look.

Mimi heard Maureen laughing and turned around seeing Mark. She laughed along with Maureen. "Roger, look at Mark."

Roger peered around Mimi's head at his friend with that ridiculous expression on his face. He let out a good natured chuckle. Poor Mark. It was priceless. Sometimes he did have to wonder about Mark being all alone. Especially since he was surrounded by Angel-and-Collins, and Roger-and-Mimi, and then there was Mark and his ex, conveniently without her girlfriend for the night.

"Aww, ain't that cute?" Collins sniggered, slurping at his champagne and grinning over at Angel.

Angel leaned forward and began pounding loudly on the table again, singing her song. "Oh, today Angel tried to curl her wig. And then she leaaaarned that it wasn't so good looking when it buuuuurned. It was so sad, her lovely wig looked so bad, so she sadly said goodbye and it caused quite a scene, but at least Mark was still happy 'cause he was kissed by... Maureeeeeeen!"

Mimi put a finger up to her lips. "Don't snap him out of it... it's cute."

Maureen stared around at her four friends looking at her and grinned slightly, feeling herself blush a bit. She didn't even know why she was doing this. If Joanne had been here, Joanne would have been on her in a heartbeat, even though she was friends with Mark. So just because Joanne was gone, was that Maureen's reason for flirting about with Mark? Or maybe she was just bored. That was terrible. She knew she really shouldn't have been doing this to Joanne. Or to Mark. But it had just been a bit of fun, that was all.

"What?" Mark said, giving a huge start. He looked around quickly at everyone. "I... I do? I'm just really happy that it's Roger's birthday and everyone's together, that's all."

Angel snickered at him. "Este chico encanta Maureen mucho. Quiere ella ahora!"

"Quiere muchos besos y muchos otro cosas," came Mimi's response, winking at Angel and laughing at how no one else could understand them.

Maureen glanced between the two and laughed. Mark, though still looking very confused, also looked very embarrassed, since it was still clear that Angel and Mimi were talking about him.

"You know... we should have filmed that," Mimi said. "Maureen, wanna go do that again?"

"No! You can't have my camera!" Mark snapped, switching into protector-mode with his camera immediately. "It's the champagne. We're all just getting drunk." He nodded and took a sip.

"Mmm," said Angel. "In that case, maybe we can start the festivities sooner rather than later..." She ran her blue tipped finger along Collins's chest and smiled.

Mark just spat out his champagne at her comment. "Angel!"

Collins grinned back and kissed her. "Baby, that's one of the best ideas you've had all day."

"I wouldn't mind that..." Roger said, smirking at Mimi.

Mimi smirked right back at him. "Honestly, Roger, is there anything else you ever think about?"

"Sure there is," he said. "But it's my birthday, so I'm thinking about whatever the hell it is I wanna think about."

"Hey, 'bout those presents?" Collins suggested, standing up to go grab all the boxes and bags and bring them back. "Or, uh... looks like Roger already started," he added, nodding over at Roger and Mimi kissing

"I think they started without being too drunk," Maureen said, smiling. "This must be Mimi's present."

Angel gave a hoot at Roger and Mimi. "Caliente!" she cheered. "And interesting how the numbers add up tonight..." she said, glancing at Mark and Maureen.

Mark was turning redder than ever. "No, you guys, that's just wrong," he said, though he was secretly agreeing with Angel on the inside. Maureen had cheated on him and Joanne. So what would it matter if she cheated one more time? Wow, he couldn't believe he was saying this.

"Yeah. Presents, Roger. Before we forget all about them."

Roger and Mimi broke apart, and Mimi slipped back over to her spot on the couch as Collins handed Roger a rectangular shaped package. "This one's from me."

Roger stared at the gift, trying to guess just what it was by holding it like a child did at Christmas, and then proceeded to rip the paper off roughly, and a guitar book appeared in his hands.

Mark smiled at the gift Roger had just opened. "Good idea, Collins. Maybe we'll hear something other than 'Musetta's Waltz' now. It's been odd hearing a waltz played out on a guitar."

Roger threw a glare at Mark and stuck on his tongue. "Like to see you play that waltz on any sort of instrument." For the next five minutes Roger ripped and tossed wrapping paper to get to his presents, all of which unsurprisingly were related to guitars.

"Thanks guys," he said, looking down at his gifts and then at his friends. "I like your... originality."

Angel smiled and happily leaned in toward Collins, one of her arms draped onto his chest. "So, Roger," she said sternly, looking from him to the pile of presents on the table. "What are you going to wear tomorrow?"

"Oh... I, uh... that new shirt?" Roger answered, realizing what he was supposed to say.

"Yes! Correct!" Angel said, smiling and clapping her hands together. "I'm sure you'll look great in it."

Roger shrugged. "Well, you're the fashion person, so I'll just have to trust you. Anyway, how about the cake now?"

"Oh yeah." Collins nodded and moved out from under Angel to retrieve the cake, the plates, and the little plastic forks. He walked back to the table and set it there, then took off the cover and stuck in a little candle. A box of matches came out of his pocket, and he held it out to Mimi. "Here. I think you should be the one to light the birthday candle just 'cause it goes along with that cute little story of how you guys met."

Roger rolled his eyes at Collins's whole idea. But it was thoughtful anyway. Mimi snorted and accepted the matches. After lighting one, she looked at the candle wick and then to Roger. "Well, babe, this one's for you. For lighting my candle. Several times, since you also made it keep going out."

"Yeah, but you were..." Roger let it trail off. It didn't really matter at the moment. Collins took out a knife and then cut the cake into slices, and handed some out to everyone.

Maureen took a few bites of cake, and then eyed Mark. Mark was awfully quiet, and was chewing his cake so seriously and staring at it as if it were such a delicate operation. She shook her head, and then scooted over. "Mark, here's for being there for me." She then lowered his arm the held his next bite of cake, and kissed him on the lips. Just for fun. Just for experimenting.

Mark was immediately struck into a daze again, freezing, his face blissful, his hand gripping the plate weakly. "Thank you," he said dreamily. "I.. I mean... That's not fair, Maureen!" Though he wasn't snapping out of it as he had before. That kiss had hit him hard, harder than the champagne could have. "I know you're only doing this because Joanne's out of town so you know that she won't be around to watch you! That, and tonight we both seem to find ourselves without partners."

"I'm sorry," Maureen said, crossing her arms. "I was just having some fun, and you seem to like it."

Collins grabbed a slice of cake. He got a little on his fork and held it up to Angel, offering to feed it to her.

Angel had giggled and opened her mouth, allowing Collins to feed her the cake. Following suit, she got some cake on her fork and held it out to him. "Your turn."

Collins accepted the bit of cake that Angel offered him. It wasn't the best cake in the world, but it was all right. And anyway, there was something else he really liked. "You've got icing on your face," he told her.

"Do I?" she asked. "Where?"

"Just over here..." Collins said, before leaning in and licking the trace of icing off the corner of her mouth, and then going to kiss her cheek and her lips.

Mark frowned a little, glancing at Angel and Collins before returning to look at Maureen. As if he needed those two abandoning their cake and kissing noisily on the sofa while Maureen was taunting him. "But that would be an illusion! And how do I know you don't have... some other guy out there that you're dating at the same time as Joanne?"

Maureen's eyebrows narrowed at him. "Mark, I'll have you know that I would not cheat on Joanne with some guy just 'cause she was gone.. There is no other guy!"

Mark pointed at himself. "Oh, well then who's _this_ other guy?"

"You're not an other guy! You're Mark!" she cried.

"Yeah, we'll you're a... I don't know what to think of you anymore!" Mark spat. And suddenly he seized Maureen and kissed her.

Being that Angel and Collins were now too preoccupied with each other, Mimi and Roger were the only two to witness this random spur of the moment action from Mark, and raised their eyebrows at each other.

"Wow," Mimi commented,

"I know," Roger nodded, smiling at Mark and Maureen, though looking very amused. "That was pretty odd. I don't know what's gotten into those two."

"Maybe it was that champagne." Mimi pointed to the bottle. "I mean, it's all gone. Maybe Collins spiked secretly somehow. He's good at all the secretive stuff. And it's already worked it's magic on him and Angel, obviously. Not that they're not always doing that anyway..."

"Well... that could be one other present. You and me could let that champagne do it's thing with us..." Roger suggested, grinning and snaking his arm around Mimi's waist to pull her closer.

"I like giving that kind of present." Mimi ran her hand over Roger's hair and then slowly began kissing him.

After about a minute, Roger's eyes opened. "Oh God, they're still at it," he mumbled into Mimi's lips.

"Angel and Collins?" Mimi asked. "'Course they are. They don't ever seem to stop. Especially when you're listening to Angel tell one of her stories about it." She leaned back and looked at Roger's face.

"No, I don't mean them," Roger said, shaking his head. "I mean Mark and Maureen."

Mimi turned her head around and raised her eyebrows. "What do you know? They are. I guess they must have some suppressed emotions. But hey, everyone's happy now. Why bother them?"

"I'm not," he said. "I just really wish I had that camera."

Mimi smiled devilishly and hopped off Roger and over to the counter, where she picked up Mark's camera and returned with it. "He had it on the counter the whole time, you know. Nothing gets past you, does it?"

"Oh... nope," Roger took the camera and stared at its buttons. He didn't really know how to work those other functions, but he knew what 'On' and 'Record' meant.

Mimi watched him and held her hand to her mouth, stifling her laughter. "Oh... you couldn't."

"Yes, I could," Roger said, pursing his lips together in satisfaction and pushing the correct buttons as he aimed the camera at Mark. "Man, I can't wait until Mark's birthday..."


End file.
